DAY FOURTEEN: Feb. 13. All too soon it’s time to leave Siem Reap and the enchanting temples so we set off on an “interesting” five-hour drive to film street scenes in Cambodia’s capital city Phnom Penh. The road to Phnom Penh is only just wide enough to cope with two way traffic, but with the sides of the road continually jammed with motor bikes and pedal cyclists, to say nothing of the constant problem of stray cattle suddenly appearing directly in front of us, we came perilously close to a head on collision at least 50 times. Perhaps “interesting” isn’t quite the right word to describe the trip!

The Finished Painting

That night, with all the filming for the Angkor edition of Splash Of Color completed, we boarded a plane for Bangkok and then drove on to our home base in Pattaya. Now for a well earned break before we move to the next filming location. So it’s goodbye for the moment, but just keep hitting on the Splash Of Color website -  we’ll keep you in touch with all developments in Robert Hagan’s exciting new TV series..

DAY THIRTEEN: Feb.12: At last we visit the famous Angkor Wat, largest and most impressive of all the Angkor temples. Angkor Wat was the only temple not engulfed by jungle growth in the four centuries following the collapse of the Angkor empire after losing a battle with Siamese (Thai) forces in the mid 14 century.

The Causeway To Angkor Wat

The temperature today is in the high 30s (Celsius) and it’s not too comfortable carrying heavy camera gear across Angkor Wat’s long bridges and open spaces, but we’re so overawed by the spectacle of the five towering spires and massive sculptures we don’t seem to notice the heat. Incidentally, these five towers are so revered by Cambodians and so symbolic of Cambodian history they are represented on the country’s national flag.

DAY TWELVE: Feb. 11: At the Ta Som gate entrance, with the two monks in position in front of Jayavarman’s enigmatic smile, Robert commenced the painting and at the same time, with a piece-to-camera, he talked about the long and bloody history of the Angkor temples and how ruthless kings such as Jayavarman V11 captured countless thousands of slaves in their battle victories over neighboring states. Slaves were used to build the temples.

The Artist At Work

Robert also talked about the architectural, engineering and artistic skills involved in the creation of the temples and suggested that Angkor could rightly be considered as “The Athens Of South East Asia” during Jayavarman’s brutal but undeniably productive reign..

DAY ELEVEN: Feb 10: With invaluable help from our erudite and multi-lingual  Cambodian guide Mr.That Seng we visited a local monastry for Buddhist monks on what seemed for sure to be a Mission Impossible. Our mission was to try and persuade a couple of the monastry’s monks to come with us all the way out to the already chosen Ta Som location and pose in front of the Jayavarman  face sculpture for Robert’s painting.

At The Wat

Meeting Monks At The Monastery

With Mr. That acting as interpreter we talked to the monks inside one of the monastry’s classrooms where, believe it or not, they were studying complex mathematics. After about an hour of discussions we felt we were getting nowhere, but then  Mr. That suddenly informed us with a beaming smile that the monks had agreed to go along with us the following morning. Well done, Mr. That!

With Monks At Angkor

DAY TEN: Feb 9: Robert visits some of the biggest temples in the complex and quickly realizes they will make a difficult subject for the painting he has to make. The problem is that the architectural features of the big temples have been terribly distorted by the ravages of time, plus the horrendous damage caused by being swallowed up by the jungle.

What And Where To Paint…

What About Here?

However, when we were walking through a quite small building that is actually just a gate entrance set in the Ta Som temple’s surrounding walls Robert found his subject. He literally stopped in his tracks when he noticed the large and virtually undamaged 13th century sculptured face of Jayavarman V11, the Angkor king responsible for most of the temple buildings.

The Crew At Ta Som

Western Entrance Ta Som

Jayavarman’s enigmatic smile somehow reminded Robert of Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and he immediately decided that the king would be just perfect for the upcoming painting.

The Chosen Spot….